And of course.the foam! I typically use EVA foam from three retailers which are all a little different in terms of composition. Hot glue & Glue gun (I prefer one with low/high temperature setting so that you can quickly join parts and avoid burns) A knife (carpenters or hot knife, or even a scroll-saw) Here is a list of needed materials for foam armor. For the purpose of ease, I will be showing pictures from both suits to help show how a suit of your own might be made. While using the software is easy, constructing the paper patterns is a completely different skillset.Due to a few requests, I have decided to make a fairly detailed tutorial for my foam armor. This is my suit create last year from foam, Its my second suit of armor and I am currently working on my third. Keep trying or try another method altogether. So if you print out the pieces and get discouraged, it’s ok. I’m pretty good with fitting pieces together and 3D orientation but not everyone is made that way. Sometimes, I feel like pep is a little overkill because of all the details for every fold but it gives you a good starting point.ĥ) Oh and I have to mention, this method is not for everyone. So just keep in mind, these are very detailed down to every fold so it will take some time to finish the projects…but they will come out awesome. However, if you are using craft foam and then using vinyl over it, or anything else over the craft foam, that’s three times the work. If you are doing this only using paper, it will already take a lot of time. I will create another post for more organic armor but the pep databases are much more useful for costumes that would be made out of metal: Gundams, Star Wars robots, Halo suits, Mega Man, etc.Ĥ) It takes a lot of time, paper, and work. Some of the links are outdated or old so here are some useful (not dead) databases to start your search:ģ) Pepakura is good for “metal-like” armor.

Otherwise, for a cosplayer, the Viewer is more than enough.Ģ) Know where the Pep databases / galleries are. There is also a Pepakura Designer which is not free but only needed if you are going to create pep designs. Most files are pre-scaled for someone 6 feet tall so it’s pretty easy to use. Here is a tutorial on how to download, open, and scale your first file. So how do you use Pepakura? Here are tips on how to get started.ġ) Download Pepakura Viewer (free). You can make amazing life-sized pieces of armor such as:Ī full body Halo Armor Suit.Photo belongs to Tawnysha Greene.Īlphonse Armor. Pepakura is basically the art of paper craft folding.

Thundercats pepakura pattern